11:47 am, August 8, 2024
Senior automotive industry leaders including Vertu Motors CEO Robert Forrester, Mazda UK sales director Laura Brailey and Auto Trader commercial director Ian Plummer have formed a network to debate critical issues facing the sector.
The Automotive Leadership Network (ALN) is a successor to the Automotive Fellowship International (AFI), which was established 30 years ago by Ron Sewell and chaired by ASE founder Trevor Jones for the past 13 years, and has a fresh new focus.
Forrester, Brailey and Plummer have been joined by Unipart Group executive chairman John M Neill, who is the ALN’s president, Suzuki GB director of automobile Dale Wyatt, Vindis Group COO Simon Bottomley, Automotive 30% Club founder Julia Muir, IMI CEO Steve Nash, Fast Track Holdings director Mike Jones and Perrys group MD Darren Ardron.
The AFI was sold to ASE in 2011, with Jones continuing as chairman, but it has now transitioned into an independent new entity, moving from ownership by ASE but with the membership network staying the same.
ALN chief executive Laura Coase said: ‘This mix of experience is critical. If we only ever talk among the same people, we risk just talking into an echo chamber.
‘Our focus now is to continue to deliver unparalleled thought leadership, widen the membership diversity and to bring through the leaders of the future.’
ALN will be governed by the Chatham House Rule to increase openness of discussion. Under the rule, anyone at a meeting can use information from the discussion but can’t reveal who made any particular comment.
It is named after the London headquarters of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, where the rule originated in 1927 and has been refined since.
The top executives from retailers, manufacturers and industry associates will meet three times a year on an equal platform in an informal setting and safe space for their discussions and debates, which Coase said will deliver a level of thought leadership unique in the sector.
The transition from the AFI to the ALN hasn’t altered the original vision, said Coase, which was ‘to create a network of the most successful, forward-thinking senior executives willing to share and brainstorm the critical issues facing the automotive industry, stimulated by leading-edge thinkers and outstanding guests of honour’.
ALN’s summer programme focused on China’s impact on the UK market, the ZEV mandate, the transformative power of AI in auto retail, and insights from the US National Automobile Dealers Association.
Main image shows (bottom step from left) John M Neill, Laura Coase, Julia Muir, Dale Wyatt and Laura Brailey; (second step from left) David Lansdowne, who is the former deputy chairman of the AFI, Steve Nash, Simon Bottomley and Mike Jones; (top step from left) Ian Plummer and Robert Forrester
